Katie L. Acosta, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
College of Arts and Sciences
Georgia State University
Langdale Hall
38 Peachtree Center Ave. Suite 1041
Atlanta, GA 30303
EDUCATION
Fall 2005-2009Doctor of Philosophy, Sociology, University of Connecticut, Storrs
Aug. 2003-2005Masters of Arts, Sociology, University of Connecticut, Storrs
May 2003Bachelor of Arts, Sociology, Cum Laude, City University of New
York, HunterCollege
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Fall 2013-PresentAssistant Professor, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA Department of Sociology
Fall 2009- 2013Assistant Professor, Tulane University, New Orleans,
Department of Sociology and Stone Center for Latin American Studies
SCHOLARLY INTERESTS
Gender, Sexuality, Latina/o Studies,Race/Ethnicity,Family, Immigration
PUBLICATIONS
Book Manuscript:
Acosta, Katie L. 2013. Amigas y Amantes:How Sexually Nonconforming Latinas Negotiate
Family. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick. “2014 Outstanding Choice Title”
This work explores sexually nonconforming Latina’s experiences with building and managing families of choice and origin. It is based on 42 in-depth interviews with women who sexually identify as lesbian, bisexual, or queer (herein abbreviated as LBQ). In addition, it draws from 14 months of participant observation at LBQ Latina events which the author conducted in 2007-2008 in a major northeast city. With this data, the author explores how LBQ Latinas manage loving relationships with their partners, the families who raised them and their friends. Furthermore, the author provides a gendered analysis of how sexually nonconforming Latinas reconcile their sexualities, negotiate cultural expectations and combat compulsory heterosexualitywith families of origin.Amigas y Amantes offers a new way of thinking about the work involved in doing family. It highlights the distinct kind of emotion work which LBQ Latinas do in their efforts to merge families of choice and origin. In doing so, Amigas y Amantes contributes to the queering of emotion work.
Peer-Reviewed Published Articles:
Acosta, Katie L., Forthcoming. Cultivating a LesbianaSeria Identity. Sexualities.
Kail, Ben Lennox, Katie L. Acosta, and Eric R. Wright. 2015. State Level Marriage
Equality and the Health of Same Sex Couples. American Journal of Public Health105
(6): 1101-1105.
Acosta, Katie. 2011. The Language of (In)Visibility: Using In-Between Spaces as
a Vehicle for Empowerment in the Family. Journal of Homosexuality 58(6-
7):883-900.
Acosta, Katie. 2010.“How Could You Do This To Me?" How Lesbian, Bisexual and
Queer Latinas Negotiate Sexual Disclosure with their Families. Black Women Gender &
Families 4 (1): 1-23 .
Reprinted in Sex Matters: TheSexuality and Society Reader, editedby Mindy Stombler,
Dawn Baunach Wendy Simmonds,Elroi Windsor and Elisabeth Burgess.Fourth
EditionW.W. Norton & Company 2014.
Asencio, Marysol and Katie Acosta.2009. Migration, Gender Conformity, and Social Mobility
among Puerto Rican Sexual Minorities. Sexuality Research and Social Policy 6(3): 34-
43.
Acosta, Katie. 2008. Lesbianas in the Borderlands: Shifting Identities and Imagined
Communities. Gender and Society 22(5): 639-659.
Published Book Chapters:
Asencio, Marysol and Katie Acosta. 2016.Una Cartografía De Las Sexualidades Latinas
En Estados Unidos(Introducción),EnSexualidades Latinas en Estados Unidos,
MarysolAsencio, editora, London, England: Frontpage Publications Limited.
Acosta, Katie. 2011. Sexual Citizenship: Marriage, Adoption and Immigration in the
United Statesin In Our Own Backyard: Human Rights, Injustice, and Resistance
in the UnitedStates.edited by Bandana Purkayastha, DavitaGlasberg, and William Armaline,Pennsylvania,University of Pennsylvania Press.
Asencio, Marysol and Katie Acosta. 2009. Introduction: Mapping Latina/o Sexualities Research
and Scholarship. In Latina/o Sexualities: Probing Powers, Practices, Passions and Policies. edited by MarysolAsencio, New Jersey, Rutgers University Press.
Acosta, Katie. 2007. “This Would All Be Solved if Only We Could Get Married”:
Queer Marriages and Immigration Policy.Pp. 21-40 in Sexual Politics of Desire
and Belonging, edited by Alejandro Cervantes-Carson and Nick Rumens.Amsterdam, Rodopi Press.
Book Reviews:
Acosta, Katie. 2013. “Tacit Subjects: Belonging and Desire among Dominican
Immigrant Men, by Carlos Ulises Decena.” Contemporary Sociology 42 (1):75-76.
Other Publications:
Acosta, Katie L. 2014. We Are Family. Contexts, winter issue (invited submission).
Acosta, Katie L. forthcoming. “Feminisms, Latina”.The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of
Gender andSexuality Studies (invited submission)
Acosta, Katie L. forthcoming. Latina/o Sexualities. The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies
(invited submission)
WORKS IN PROGRESS:
Acosta, Katie L., In the Event of Death: Lesbian Families’Plans to Preserve Stepparent-Child
Relationships (under review)
Acosta, Katie L.,Ben Lennox Kail, Eric R. Wright. The Impact of Children on Parents’ Health:
SameSex Parents, Opposite-Sex Cohabiting and Heterosexual Married Couples
Compared
Acosta, Katie L., Stepping Into Queer Parenting (Book-length Manuscript)
GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS:
Spring 2012Tulane University, COR Research Fellowship ($4,400)
Spring 2011Newcomb College, Summer Research Fellowship ($2,500)
Summer 2010 Stone Center Summer Faculty Research Grant ($3,000)
Spring 2010Tulane University, COR Research Fellowship ($8,500)
PAPERS READ:
Spring 2016In the Event of Death: Lesbian Families’ Plans toPreserve
Stepparent-Child Relationships.Panel Participant.Southern SociologicalSociety, April 2016, Atlanta, GA.
Fall 2015“Soy Lesbiana y Mi Pareja es Morena”: HowSexually
Nonconforming Latinas Navigate Interracial/Interethnic Relationships. Invited Speaker, Emory University- The James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference, October 2015, Atlanta, Georgia.
Fall 2015Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer Latinas Doing Family and
Negotiating Acceptance. Invited Panelist, Indiana University-Latino Studies Program, September 2015, Bloomington, Indiana.
Summer 2015 Latina/o Sexualities Research: Emerging Discourses from within
the Constraints of the Academy. Invited Panelist, American Sociological Association, August 2015, Chicago, IL.
Summer 2015Claiming Space, Finding Voice and Challenging Institutional
Boundaries in Race, Sexuality and Family Research. Invited Panelist, Society for the Study of Social Problems, August 2015, Chicago, IL.
Summer 2014“But I Don’t Want Rich, Spoiled Kids”: Racial and Cultural
Tensions in Lesbian Stepparent Families. Invited Panelist,
Association for Black Sociologists, August 2014, San
Francisco, CA.
Spring 2014New Directions in Latin@ Sexualities Research. Invited
Panelist, Rutgers University, April 2014, New Brunswick, NJ
Spring 2014Stepping into Queer Parenting, Invited Speaker, University of
West Georgia, April 2014, Carrollton, GA
Spring 2014Stepping into Queer Parenting, Panel Participant, Southern
Sociological Society, April 2014, Charlotte, NC
Spring 2012Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer Latinas Gaining Familial Acceptance
through Gender Conformity.Panel Participant, Southern Sociological Society, April 2012, New Orleans, LA.
Spring 2011Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer Latinas Doing Family and
Negotiating Acceptance. Invited Panelist, Council on Contemporary Families,April 2011. Chicago, IL.
Fall 2010"Mami Soy Lesbiana y Mi Pareja es Morena": HowSexually
Nonconforming Latinas Navigate Interracial/Interethnic
Same-Sex Relationships. Panel Participant. Latin American
Studies Association, October 2010. Toronto, Canada.
Summer 2010 Boundaries Identities and Layers of Belonging in One Latina LesbianSocial Group. American Sociological Association, August
2010. Atlanta, GA.
Spring 2010The Language of Invisibility. Panel Participant, Lavender
Languages, April 2010. Washington, DC.
Spring 2010Navigating the Academic Job Market. Panel Participant, Southern
Sociological Society, April 2010. Atlanta, GA.
Spring 2010Boundaries Identities and Layers of Belonging in One Latina
Lesbian Social Group. Panel Participant, Southern Sociological
Society, April 2010.Atlanta, GA.
Spring 2009“How Could You Do This To Me?” How Lesbian, Bisexual and
Queer Latinas Negotiate Sexual Disclosure with their Families,
Panel Participant, Eastern Sociological Association, February,
2009. Baltimore, MD.
Summer 2008What is Latina/o Sexualities? What are the Implications of this
Researchfor Social Workers? University of Connecticut, Storrs.
Presented inSpanish to social workers from the University of
Puerto Rico, RioPiedras.
Spring 2008Lesbianas in the Borderlands: Shifting Identities and Imagined Communities. Invited lecturer,Out to Lunch Series, Rainbow Center, University of Connecticut.
Fall 2007Latina/o Sexualities Workshop. Panel Participant. Rethinking the
Latino Intellectual Ecology, October, 2007, University ofConnecticut,Storrs, CT.
Summer 2006U.S. Asylum Policy and Sexual Orientation: How Gays and
Lesbians Experience Legality. Panel Participant, Society for the
Study of Social Problems, August, 2006. Montreal, CA.
Summer 2006How Gays and Lesbians Experience Legality through US Asylum
Policies. Panel Participant, Law and Society Association July,
2006. Baltimore, MD.
Winter 2006Sexualizing Immigration Scholarship: Gays and Lesbians Creating
Empowering Spaces through Immigration. Panel Participant,
Eastern Sociological Society, February, 2006. Boston, MA.
Spring 2005 Invisible Immigrant’s Experience: Exploring the Lives of Gay and
Lesbian Immigrants from Latin America. Panel Participant,
Human Rights Recruitment Conference April, 2005. Storrs, CT.
Fall 2005“This Would All Be Solved if Only We Could Get Married”:
Queers, Marriage, and Immigration Policy. Panel Participant, Sex
And Sexualities Conference November, 2005. Vienna, Austria.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
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Last updated April 2016
- Families and Society
- Race and Ethnic Relations
- Social Problems
- Gender in Latin America
- Foundations to Sociology
- Race in the Americas
- Race, Class, & Gender
- Latinos: Sex and Gender
- Sociology Field Experience, La Romana,DominicanRepublic.
1 | PageKatie L. Acosta
Last updated April 2016
Graduate Students-Georgia State University
MA Thesis Committee Chair
Penny Harvey
Claire James
Dissertation Committee Member
Lanier Basenberg
Neal Carnes
Graduate Students –Tulane University
Spring 2012MA Thesis Committee Member, Andrew Zach Schultz
Spring 2011MA Thesis Committee Member, Emily Schulman
Spring 2010MA Thesis Committee Chair, Corey Waters
Spring 2010MA Thesis Committee Member, Amanda Magdalena
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Spring 2015- Spring 2017Southern Sociological Society, Executive Committee Member (elected member)
Spring 2013-Spring 2014Southern Sociological Society, Program Committee Member (invited committee member)
Spring 2012-Spring 2014Sociologists for Women in Society, Membership Committee (elected member)
Spring 2011Member for Newcomb College Institutes' Keynote Speaker Planning Committee
Summer 2011and 2012Summer Transition Program Faculty Mentor
Reviewer for Journal of Family Issues, Journal of Homosexuality, Sociological Inquiry, American Journal of Public Health, Social Problems, PSC CUNY Research Proposals, Oxford University Press, and W.W. Norton.
ACADEMIC AWARDS
Spring 2007University of Connecticut, Puerto Rican/Latin American
CulturalCenter Scholarship Award for commitment to Latino issues through leadership and service
Spring 2006 - Spring 2008University of Connecticut, Department of Sociology Pre-
Doctoral Fellowship Recipient
Fall 2003- Spring 2009University of Connecticut, GraduateSchool, Multicultural
Fellowship Recipient
ORGANIZATIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
Sociologists for Women in Society
American Sociological Association
Society for the Study of SocialProblems
Southern Sociological Society
Latin American Studies Association
1 | PageKatie L. Acosta
Last updated April 2016